“1. The Captain is to have two full Shares; the Master is to have one Share and a half; the Doctor, Mate, Gunner, and Boatswain, one Share and a quarter.
“2. He that shall be found guilty of taking up any unlawful Weapon on Board the Privateer, or any Prize, by us taken, so as to strike or abuse one another, in any regard, shall suffer what Punishment the Captain and Majority of the Company shall think fit.
“3. He that shall be found Guilty of Cowardice, in the Time of Engagement, shall suffer what Punishment the Captain and Majority shall think fit.
“4. If any Gold, Jewels, Silver, &c. be found on Board of any Prize or Prizes, to the Value of a Piece of Eight, and the Finder do not deliver it to the Quarter-Master, in the Space of 24 Hours, shall suffer what Punishment the Captain and Majority shall think fit.
“5. He that is found Guilty of Gaming, or Defrauding another to the Value of a Shilling, shall suffer what Punishment the Captain and Majority of the Company shall think fit.
“6. He that shall have the Misfortune to lose a Limb, in Time of Engagement, shall have the Sum of one hundred and fifty Pounds Sterling, and remain with the Company as long as he shall think fit.
“7. Good Quarters to be given when call’d for.
“8. He that sees a Sail first, shall have the best Pistol, or Small-Arm, on Board her.”
This occurred on June 13, 1721. Seven days later, near Barbadoes, they came in sight of the brigantine “Charles,” James Douglass, master, owned in Boston in the Massachusetts Bay, which fell into their hands without any resistance and was plundered in the usual piratical manner. No one on board was injured and the vessel was let go without damage. Several other captures were made near Hispaniola including a Spanish pirate that recently had taken a Bristol ship, then in company. The Spaniards being engaged in the same trade expected some consideration at the hands of Lowther, but he rifled and then burned both ships, permitting the Spaniards to go away unharmed in their launch and adding all the English sailors to his own pirate crew. Meanwhile the news of his venture on the high seas had reached England and in September, H. M. Ship “Feversham,” stationed at Barbadoes, was reported to have taken Lowther, so Captain Russell set out from Plymouth for Barbadoes to take possession of his ship and give evidence against Lowther and his crew.[96] Unfortunately for him, on his arrival at Barbadoes he learned that the capture had not been made. About that time Lowther took a small sloop owned at St. Christopher’s which he manned from his enlarged crew and together they made for a small island where the vessels were careened and their bottoms cleaned and here the company spent some time drinking and carousing with some Indian women they had seized.
About Christmas time, 1721, they went aboard their vessels and took a course across the Caribbean for the Bay of Honduras, but running short of water made for the Grand Caimane islands to fill up the water butts. While here a small vessel came into the same harbor with only thirteen men aboard and with a man named Edward Low in command. It turned out that this company had recently come away from a Boston sloop in the Bay of Honduras and had turned pirates like themselves. Lowther accordingly proposed to Captain Low that they should join forces and shortly an agreement was reached and all went aboard the “Happy Delivery.” The joint adventures of these kindred spirits are related at length in the chapter on Captain Edward Low, until Low’s ambition led to a rupture between them. They separated at night on May 28, 1722, in the latitude of 38°, and Captain Lowther set a course for the mainland and took three or four fishing vessels off New York.